Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

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Harry, Ron and Hermione team up and no Death Eater is safe. Updated impressions, screens and videos.

By Matt Casamassina

It may look glamorous from the outside, but being the Boy Who Lived, also known as Harry Potter, is no walk in the park. He's known throughout the wizarding community and he can barely scurry through the halls of Hogwarts without classmates turning to look at him. But his celebrity status has certainly come at a price. The evil wizard Lord Voldemort killed Harry's parents when he was just in infant and he's had to live with his mean aunt and uncle ever since. Meanwhile, despite his best efforts to stay out of trouble, he always seems to find himself smack-dab in the middle of the latest ruckus, and more recently his little adventures have become vastly more dangerous.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the fourth book in J.K. Rowling's worldwide phenomenon, follows Harry, Ron and Hermione as they return to Hogwarts for another year of schooling and adventuring. This time around, Harry has somehow landed a coveted spot in the institute's anticipated Triwizard Tournament, despite technically being underage. The fierce competition promises to challenge Harry's abilities like never before, pitting him against other students in a test of skill. In addition to battling dragons and Grindylows, he'll need to investigate some dodgy goings-on and may ultimately come face to face with his greatest nemesis.

It's a great book -- perhaps the best in Rowling's ambitious series, which is why fans across the globe are anticipating the forthcoming Warner Bros. movie adaptation, set to hit theatres this November. Publisher Electronic Arts, meanwhile, is readying an action-packed videogame version that complements both the book and the big-budgeted film, and it'll release a couple of weeks before Potter flies to the silver screen.

EA recently stopped by IGN's clumsily decorated Los Angeles office and demoed a still-unfinished, but nevertheless promising build of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The game is coming to GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, PC, PSP and DS, but the demo represented only the console version. It consisted of three main areas ripped directly from the movie and sure to be all too familiar to Potter fans everywhere.

The first location accurately reflects the opening of the book. After the Quidditch World Cup final, fans are returning to the wizard campsite when the Death Eaters, hooded followers of Lord Voldemort, attack. In the game, Harry, Ron and Hermione are sent into the woods to find the Portkey. They naturally encounter various dangers along the way. The three friends must work together to fend off Dugbogs and Death Eaters while using both individual and combined spells such as Carpe Retractum and Wingardium Leviosa to move and levitate objects respectively out of their paths.

EA has developed Goblet of Fire to be more pick-up-and-play friendly to gamers of all ages. In that way, the title is less focused on adventure, as it was in previous games, and more focused on action. Previous Potter games played like watered down Zelda clones. Goblet of Fire sheds most of the puzzle elements in favour of spell-infused combat. This is all evident from the very first stage. You control Harry, Ron and Hermione as they run along the campsite battling enemies.

Your AI-controlled friends will follow as you move about the environment your spells are cast in a context-sensitive manner as you encounter obstacles or enemies. For instance, if an object obstructs your path, Harry will automatically be able to use Wingardium Leviosa in order to send it hurling out of his way. The three-person dynamic lends itself to team-based challenges. The trio will oftentimes need to work together, each person casting a spell, in order to defeat enemies or obstacles. Luckily, the AI characters will help out without much coaxing. Better still, your friends can jump in at any time, taking control of the AI characters, for some multiplayer action.

The first level of the game serves up some fairly basic, team-based combat sequences and is at its best when Harry, Ron and Hermione work together to lift objects or defeat enemies. As you'll be able to see in the videos we've provided, EA has cleaned up the look of this area significantly, and not only are the fights brought to life with realistic particle and lighting effects, but the character models are well made and everything runs a little smoother.

Harry, Ron and Hermione are able to work together through much of the game, but like in the book and movie, there are challenges that only Potter himself can meet. As the story develops through stylistically animated storyboard-like cut-sequences, the Boy Who Lived eventually enters the Triwizard Tournament, where his pals watch from the stands. In the first task, Harry must use his Accio Charm in summon his trusty Firebolt to the Hogwarts grounds, where he is battling a dragon. EA gave us the chance to go hands on with a gameplay stage based on this event. As Harry is chased by the Horntail through the Forbidden Forest and beyond, he must fly his Firebolt out of harm's way, dodging trees and structures, as well as attacks from the angry dragon. He must also fly his broom through various rings located about the stage. It's an impressive gameplay scene and also one vastly different from the first stage. Potter is unable to fly his broom around the entire school with full freedom of movement, as in previous games. Rather, he is guided along a set path. Because of this design, though, the action screams along at a more realistic pace and the scenery is prettier. You can replay the level, according to EA, in order to gain better times and scores.

In the final level shown, Potter is required to tackle the second task of the Triwizard Tournament. Harry takes the Gillyweed and dives into the Black Lake. You control the character as he swims through the atmospheric locale, filled with shimmering plant life and penetrated lighting effects. Potter can speed up with the press of a button and cast such jinxes as Ebublio, which surrounds an opponent with, or turns an opponent into a cloud of soapy bubbles. Harry has to save Ron and Gabrielle Delacour from the bottom of the lake and he'll also need to dispatch any Grindylows or Mermaids who get in his way. According to EA, Warner Bros. was especially impressed with the developer's videogame recreation of the scene as it closely mimics that of the movie.

The game is definitely shaping up to be better than we first expected, and we've still only scratched the surface of what's to come. There are more than a dozen different level types in the game, from the Quidditch World Cup Campsite, Forbidden Forest, and areas that revolve around Defence Against the Dark Arts, to three Triwizard Tasks, a jaunt through Herbology, various Moody Challenges and, ultimately, a fight with Lord Voldemort.

Look out for much more on the game in the coming weeks and months. In the meanwhile, we've posted a host of new screenshots along with a batch of direct-feed videos, all of which show off the aforementioned areas and more.